NFF blasts ridiculous report on Eaglesâ€™ hotel

The Nigeria Football Federation Thursday lambasted a report in a national newspaper claiming that the Hampshire Hotel which it secured for the Super Eagles as Team Base Camp for this summerâ€™s World Cup finals in South Africa cost 66 British Pounds per night.

â€œThis is outright falsehood. A room in Hampshire Hotel, Ballito which the Nigeria Football Federation secured for the Super Eagles cost $575 per room per night. Anyone who has the decency to cross-check a rumour or speculation would have been able to find out the truth, instead of coming out with such a ridiculous report.

â€œThe truth is that despite all the loud talk going on about the hotel, we considered so many things before opting for the place. It is a small place and that is the kind of place we need for maximum concentration. We didnâ€™t want a place where we would book a few rooms and some other persons will come and take up the rest of the place and start creating so many distractionsâ€, said NFF General Secretary, Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba.

Ojo_Oba went further: â€œWe took into consideration the fact that our players need to be in a place where they can fully concentrate on the task at hand. In searching for a place where we could take up and only few rooms would be left, we found Hampshire Hotel.

Even at that, we gave the hotel Management specifications and certain requirements and they promised to meet those requirements by the end of April. As at the time I am talking now, we have not even paid for the place, because we always had a Plan B and the Hampshire Hotel management was aware of thisâ€.

In 1994, one of the reasons Nigeria lost the Round of 16 match against Italy in Boston was the refusal of the players to leave a big hotel that had a lot of people who created distractions for the team.â€œThe report that Hampshire Hotel cost 66 Pounds a night is most ridiculous and unfortunateâ€.